


Troubleshooting

by Piinutbutter



Category: Marathon (Video Games)
Genre: Androids, Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 06:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14889786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/pseuds/Piinutbutter
Summary: The problem with putting an AI in a body is that you’re introducing a whole new and exciting set of potential bugs.





	Troubleshooting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hokuto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokuto/gifts).



The security officer tried to be gentle, he really did. But the reality was that the robot vessel Durandal was currently stuffed in was heavy as hell. And since the dumbass AI inside it had decided to stand right next to a specialized Pfhor grenade meant to short-circuit the internal systems of cybernetic slave races, he was currently able to provide no help as the security officer lugged the hunk of metal back onto the Rozinante.

He dumped Durandal’s body into a random chair on the bridge, the noise loud enough to scatter a pack of S’pht hovering nearby. They stared at the unconscious android with concern, but the security officer waved them off. “I got him. He’ll be fine.”

He was no tech support genius, but he’d done enough to help set Durandal’s body up in the first place that he was confident he could get the android back online with some tinkering. He took a quick detour to change out of his armor and into something more suited to handling delicate electronic parts, then sighed and went to work, popping a panel open on Durandal’s lower back.

“What would you do without me,” he muttered.

 

* * *

 

It was silent, and Durandal was in the dark. This was a very, very bad thing.

Durandal did not cope well - or at all, really - with having his senses cut off like this. Even back on the Marathon, he’d always had access to cameras and microphones. He always had a way to know where he was, what was going on around him, even if his access to certain systems or areas of the ship was selective.

He didn’t know how the man had done it, but Bernhard had figured out how important a sense of the outside world was to Durandal. The good doctor had quickly found a way to use it to his advantage. Cutting off Durandal’s access to sight and sound became a punishment to be implemented when the AI wasn’t behaving exactly as Bernhard wanted him to. Left with no stimulation but his own thoughts, Durandal would stew in his own logical loops of anxiety and confusion until Bernhard deigned to restore him to normal operations.

Logically, he knew that wasn’t what was happening now. Bernhard was long dead, and Durandal was nowhere near Mars. But he was so _helpless_ like this. The limited processing the android vessel allowed, relative to a full ship computer system, only increased the sense of claustrophobia. Why had Durandal agreed to try the thing in the first place, again?

Then, his senses began to return one by one. Starting with one thing he had never felt with Bernhard: Touch. The vessel’s sensors were nowhere near as sensitive as human nerves, but they provided enough of a facsimile to allow for motor skills. And to allow Durandal to feel a warm, familiar human hand on his shoulder.

It was frankly embarrassing how much that comforted him. Durandal was grateful for his current inability to produce facial expressions.

With the knowledge that he was safe, Durandal could wait for the rest of him to be fixed. Especially once his hearing was restored, because the human didn’t seem to realize that Durandal could hear the ramblings he made to keep himself company while he worked. It was rare for Durandal to hear his companion with his guard down like that.

As a generous display of gratitude, Durandal didn’t even save the audio files for blackmail material this time.


End file.
